Officiating aids in Cowboys’ win over Panthers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Wearing a smile that seemed to grow with each word he uttered, Morris Claiborne perfectly summed up the Dallas Cowboys’ 19-14 win over the Carolina Panthers.

“Every good team has a little luck here and there,” the rookie cornerback said. “It’s all part of the game.”

Aided by some questionable officiating in the final minutes, the Cowboys halted a two-game slide and evened their record at 3-3 with their ninth straight regular-season win over the Panthers (1-5).

Given its brutal schedule, Dallas could ill afford another loss. Now they’re out of the NFC East cellar and have some momentum going into next week’s home game against the division-leading New York Giants (5-2).

“We do a good job, come out with a win against the Giants, what is everybody going to be saying?” owner Jerry Jones said. “It’s amazing what eight days could do.”

In a hard-fought game between two desperate teams, Dan Bailey kicked four field goals, Miles Austin had five catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, Tony Romo threw for 277 yards and a TD without a turnover and Rob Ryan’s defense hounded Cam Newton into a red-zone interception and a 73.4 passer rating.

But it was all overshadowed by controversy down the stretch.

With the Cowboys leading 16-14 and the Panthers facing fourth-and-1 at their 40 with 2:11 left, Newton saw Ryan switching out personnel and quickly snapped the ball to hit Greg Olsen for a first down. But instead of moving the chains, the officials ruled Dallas had called timeout before the snap.

On the next play, Claiborne made contact with Louis Murphy before the ball arrived. But there was no flag, which prompted a loud round of boos from the fans after they saw the replay on the video boards.

Asked if he got away with one, Claiborne smiled and said, “No, I was just doing my job. Just covering my man.”

Panthers coach Ron Rivera suggested there should have been a flag thrown on Claiborne, who recorded the first interception by a Cowboys defensive back when he picked off Newton in the end zone on second-and-goal from the Dallas 6 in the second.

“You’d like to get the call,” Rivera said. “We didn’t get the call. You’d like to see (Murphy) hold onto the ball, but there was a reason why (he didn’t).”

Garrett said Claiborne made a good play.

“We only get a one-shot look at it,” Garrett said. “We don’t see the replays over and over and over again. There are bang-bang plays in the NFL. They happen to us (too).”
Carolina also disputed whether Dallas called timeout before Olsen’s catch.

Ryan said he asked Garrett to call time so the Cowboys could get the proper personnel on the field. Ryan said Garrett and linebacker Anthony Spencer asked for time long before the refs heard them.

“We were calling timeout, trust me,” Ryan said. “Jason is yelling, ‘Time out,’ and they didn’t listen to him. We were…pissed. I was like, ‘What the hell, man? They aren’t recognizing a timeout.”

Garrett, who was roundly criticized for mismanaging the clock in the final seconds of last week’s emotional 31-29 loss at Baltimore, praised Ryan for suggesting the time out.

“He handled that masterfully,” Garrett said.

On their ensuing possession after stopping Carolina, the Cowboys drove for another field goal during a series aided by a 15-yard horse-collar penalty against Panthers linebacker James Anderson on a tackle of Phillip Tanner. Again, replays showed Dallas got away with one.

“It looked like a damn foul to me if they called it. Cheaters,” Ryan said.